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Swim Past the "OK Plateau"

Have you shifted to autopilot in the pool? Here's how to use goals and expectations to your advantage.

by Terry Laughlin

The vast majority of swimmers have little or no expectation of improving—mostly a result of what they learn from experience. One Total Immersion student called it reaching 'terminal mediocrity.'

"I improved a good deal for a few months after I began swimming, but then, no matter how much I swam, I couldn’t get any better."

This experience is so universal you could call it the swimmer’s condition. In the 1960s, learning researchers observed it so commonly in a wide array of skills and professions that they gave it a name—the OK Plateau. The researchers said people plateaued not because they’d exhausted their potential, but because their performance reached a level where it was good enough to get by, so they shifted to autopilot instead of paying attention. To some extent it also occurred because they thought of themselves as "average" and devoted no energy to standing out in their field.

In my 30 to 40 years of watching people swim, some of them every day, I see a lot of swimmers who give no thought to improving. Low expectations are virtually always a self-fulfilling prophecy. A few people, in contrast, have high expectations.

If your expectations are unrealistic, this can also lead to disappointment. I’ve met some new triathletes who can barely swim a few laps, yet register for a long-course race, leaving themselves only a month or two to prepare for a 1.2-mile (1.9km) open-water swim. Perhaps they do finish the swim, but it takes 50 minutes, and leaves them unnecessarily tired.

Here are two things to keep in mind as you create and manage your expectations and goals when it comes to improvement in the water:

1. Focus on things you have a high degree of control over. I could set a goal of swimming 1,500 meters in the pool in 22 minutes in six months’ time. But, if my time today is 24 minutes, there’s no guarantee I’ll achieve it. It would be smarter to challenge myself to swim 1,500 meters with an even pace, or consistent splits, regardless of a final time. That way I can consider a time of 23 minutes a success (if I swim 7:40 for each 500-meter split). This goal is entirely achievable and will suggest a clear focus—even a mission—for my practice during those months.

2. Focus on success in the present moment. The six-month goal I describe above will add a purpose to my practices. But why wait six months for your reward when you can experience rewards right now? Put another way, work from this moment forward, rather than from some future moment back. Devote the first five to 10 minutes of each day’s practice to some form of assessment of your swimming or your stroke. It could be how light your legs feel, seeing fewer bubbles in your armstroke, or keeping your strokes-per-length below 17 at a tempo of 1.3 seconds per stroke (these numbers are only examples). Then make it your goal to improve that measure during the 50 minutes.

Every fulfilled expectation will improve your ability to focus future goals effectively—and add to your enjoyment of this lifelong sport.

Happy laps.

Terry Laughlin is the founder of Total Immersion coaching: "Swimming that Changes Your Life."